WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is “thanking God” after an alleged assassination attempt on his life only involved seeds used to make the deadly poison ricin, not Charms, a candy once found in Meal, Ready to Eat (MRE) packages.

Department of Defense officials were alerted Monday after two envelopes addressed to Mattis, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, and President Donald J. Trump containing the poisonous substance triggered alarms at the Pentagon mail screening facility.

“All I was told was that there was a potentially dangerous chemical substance that had found its way into the Pentagon, no mention of ricin or anything,” Mattis said. “Every bone in my body went into shock. I thought it was for sure Charms.”

That feeling is something that still “haunts the hell out of” the former four-star Marine general.